Radiance South West provides support in Busselton area

A regular charity fundraiser, Ms Heins had decided that the proceeds of her annual community clothing swap should be donated to mothers and babies or women's mental health - but she had no specific goal in mind and just hoped it could be put to good use.

That was in 2017 and now - five years later - her seed money has sprouted into an important community mental health network in the South West - which is winning accolades as it works to help improve perinatal mental health awareness and wellbeing, supports local parents moving into parenthood and potentially save lives.

From little things....

Ms Heins is the ambassador, peer advocacy worker and peer lead group facilitator for the Radiance Network South West, a community network unlike anything else in WA, which provides peer support and connects participants to local services to aid emotional and mental health in early parenthood.

With a small team of about a dozen staff - who work part-time, some as volunteers and all from home - Radiance South West has set up weekly support groups for pregnant and new mothers in four towns; peer support training and advocacy; an intensive 10-week mother, baby, nurture program and special sessions in 12 playgroups, in a partnership with Playgroups WA's First 1000 Days project.

It collaborates with an extensive network of medical and community health professionals, runs a biennual perinatal and infant mental health symposium in May, an annual Big Pram Walk and the Act Belong Commit Radiance Festival in Busselton each November and has also built a strong online information presence to raise awareness of perinatal anxiety and depression.

What Ms Heins didn't know when she worked through the doors five years ago, was that inside was experienced nurse and life coach Anne Mackay.

Ms Mackay has had her own experiences with perinatal anxiety with two of her four children and has long been involved in the women's mental health space.

Lamp and South West Women's Health, where Ms Mackay was working, formed a partnership and agreed that the money would be used to create support for parents in the perinatal space.

A grant was obtained from the WA Primary Health Alliance, part of a Federal government health initiative, from the women's health centre which enabled Ms Mackay to have one day a week to work on the project.

In March 2017, a community forum was held to invite interested parties to formulate a committee.

The Radiance Network South West was set up as an incorporated entity in November 2017 to run a new parents' support group in Busselton as a pilot project - the committee has since driven the growth of that entity into the professional operation that is Radiance South West.

The dedication, work and effort have seen Ms Mackay, who works part-time as Radiance South West's manager and as the community development officer for the First 1000 Steps project, selected as one of four finalists in the WA Health Minister's Award.

The award celebrates a WA 'all-star' for their outstanding contribution to mental health and the winner is due to be announced tomorrow Friday. November 25.

Earlier this month, she won the Zonta Award for the South West, which recognises women's achievement.

"It has been an amazing journey that I am very proud and honoured to be part of,'' Ms Mackay said.

"Our vision going forward is just to build a solid partnership with other organisations working in this space, so we can keep being a strong advocate for these families.

"And we want to build a community hub in the South West for parents to have a space to come, be seen, be heard and be supported."

Ms Heins, who experienced severe postnatal mental health issues after her sons were born 10 and six years ago, didn't meet Ms Mackay or know what her money had helped create until she joined in the Big Pram Walk in 2017.

"My second son was eight-months-old when I went to the walk and I still had really bad postnatal depression,'' Ms Heins said.

"But I thought 'wow... this has actually happened, this lady has taken my donation and she has started a charity called Radiance'."

Ms Heins now facilitates Radiance South West's Busselton support group and is also the peer support worker for the network.

She has also launched a new business as an in-home, peer-support doula, is writing a book to tell her story of post-natal depression and psychosis, and is a busy advocate who volunteers and works around the region.

"I am always advocating for women not to have the same experience that I did,'' said Ms Heins, who moved to Australia from the United Kingdom in 2006.

"Although it was so harrowing, I really believe that my 10-year-old was sent to me for a reason.

"There was no support then.

"If there was something like Radiance, where I could have gone, or a house where I could have turned up and said 'am I OK? is it normal to be feeling this way?' I probably could have gotten help much sooner and not spiralled so much."

The term perinatal mental health covers the time during pregnancy and the first 12 months after a baby is born.

Poor perinatal mental health affects one in five mums and one in 10 dads - placing a big toll on individuals and their families and presenting a significant community challenge.

Ms Mackay said few Australians realised that suicide was the leading cause of maternal deaths in this country.

"It is real and it happens,'' she said.

"I know at least three of our mums have said they wouldn't be here if we weren't here supporting them.

"It is important work."

But Ms Mackay and Ms Heins said they were surprised and concerned that so much shame and stigma still surrounded perinatal mental health conditions.

"A mum who rang me last week told me 'I've been trying to find the courage to ring you for a month','' Ms Mackay said.

"Then she burst into tears.

"Imagine what life has been like for that mum for a month."

Radiance South West is in contact with about 350 families a year.

"We take a lot of phone calls and a lot of parents reach out to us from across the South West,'' Ms Mackay said.

"We take each call and ask a lot of questions and listen to see what people really need, then we link them to appropriate services or supports.

"We just want to make sure that no one falls through the cracks."

Radiance South West's clients may be experiencing perinatal anxiety or depression, or have obsessive-compulsive disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder, some are struggling with the transition to parenthood, lack confidence in their parenting skills, or are without a support system.

The service is multi-layered and holistic, is focused on early intervention and responds to each family's circumstance - which involves referrals to medical services for people in acute distress or providing help to navigate other support and mental health services.

"We are not a therapeutic group, it is just a support group, which we have to remember,'' Ms Heins said.

"Nor are we a crisis group, but we have protocols in place for people who are in crisis."

Participants may self-refer to the service but are commonly directed by their GP, midwife, local hospitals, social worker, or community child health nurse.

"If there is something specific going on, we always encourage parents to get a clinical referral,'' Ms Mackay said.

"As it is always better to build that support network early.''

She said demand for the service had grown dramatically in the past few years and that during and post-COVID, referrals have "gone through the roof''.

In their region, waiting lists for clinical mental health counselling can extend for up to two-three months.

"Our referrals have gone up by at least 30 per cent in the past couple of years,'' she said.

"COVID wasn't a very happy time for many new parents, as they were very isolated without their support networks to help them.

"I've found that a lot of people moved to the South West during COVID, because they wanted to get out of the city, but there was limited supports available during this time, especially face-to-face, everything was online, including all antenatal visits and community health nurse appointments.

"Added to that, for probably 40pc of our referrals, the partners are FIFO workers.

"It is a very complex situation."

Since Ms Mackay began Radiance South West's first weekly support group in Busselton and - after having secured 12 months' funding from the WA Mental Health Commission - new groups have begun in Bunbury, Margaret River and Collie.

The weekly groups are open to new mothers and pregnant women - and partners can receive support too with information available on the network's website.

The groups run for about two hours and usually comprise about a dozen women, who may attend, as they can, for up to 12 months.

They are more than a traditional mothers' or playgroup, Ms Heins said, which anxious or depressed mothers may avoid or where participants tend not to want to be vulnerable enough and will put on a brave face.

"Here they can say 'I'm not coping','' she said.

There are currently 18 participants on the books for the Bunbury group, 12 at Busselton, and 10 each at Margaret River and Collie.

As well as providing a safe space to sit, share their stories and ask questions, the support groups often feature a guest speaker, who is invited based on the group's current needs.

"Some mums just want to be heard, they have had such a traumatic birth or are emotionally and physically depleted, sometimes they just want to sit and be, and we hold space for that,'' Ms Mackay said.

"We don't talk about our feelings enough as a community, and that trauma doesn't go away."

To further assist new mothers, Radiance South West also offers a free, intensive 10-week in-depth Mother and Baby Nurture program, plus peer-support advocacy training and the network employs a peer-support advocacy worker to help new parents navigate the mental health system.

In July 2021, Radiance South West also partnered with Playgroup WA, having received Lotterywest funding, to deliver the First 1000 Days project across the South West, which facilitates and supports specific sessions at existing community playgroups for mothers who are pregnant or have new babies.

The therapeutic sessions are run by experienced mental health professionals with Ms Mackay's support.

So far sessions have been set up in 12 towns, including Northampton, Manjimup, Bridgetown and Pemberton.

"It has been an amazing partnership with Playgroup WA,'' Ms Mackay said.

"Community development officers support each group for about four to six weeks to start specific sessions just for pregnant families and organise guest speakers for free.

"After this one of the mums will put up a hand and say 'I'll take it from here'.

"One of the benefits of the program has been we have been able to identify parents who may need extra support early on and get them the support they need much sooner."

Ms Mackay said Radiance South West had forged strong links with local doctors, community health nurses and other health care providers to help direct women and their families to appropriate clinical help.

It also works from the grassroots with community stakeholders before any new support groups are established.

The organisation has a strong social media presence - posting short films on its YouTube channel and website of mothers sharing their experiences.

Its website also provides information, raises awareness and offers links to national and WA-based telephone counselling and other relevant services.

The online space has been particularly busy in the past few weeks, in conjunction with the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Awareness Week, which fell in early November.

As part of the week, Radiance South West held its annual Big Pram Walk and Radiance Festival in Busselton, which involved more than 400 people.

Given the model is easily replicable, there is potential for the network to expand.

News of Radiance South West has started to spread and Ms Mackay and Ms Heins have both been approached to set up groups in other South West towns and WA regions.

Ms Mackay said she was receiving calls from other regions asking "when can you set up a Radiance Mid West, or a Radiance North West?".

"That would be amazing and there is no reason why we can't, it is just getting the money together to do it,'' she said.

It costs about $330,000 a year to run the existing services at the desired high level.

Radiance South West runs its own fundraising events and is now a registered charity and tax deductible gift recipient, so it can accept donations.

But the 12-month funding it received from the WA Mental Health Commission ends next June, so its committee is actively looking for long-term funding and ongoing sponsorships.

Radiance South West's next aim is to build a community hub and office, as a safe gathering space for its clients and where staff can work.

It would also like to further expand the support groups network in the South West - with Manjimup the next regional location in its sights.

"There is no reason why this can't grow,'' Ms Mackay said.

"We have a strong, solid committee and we often talk about growth.

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"But we can't do that until we get our base - our community hub.

"We need to have a space where everyone comes together.

"We don't feel that we can grow any bigger until we have that solid foundation."

Though she could never have foreseen it when she made her donation, Radiance South West has become a very personal experience for Ms Heins - meeting new babies is helping her heal the trauma of tough early times with her newborns and it has given her a professional mission.

"It is nice to help these women and use my lived experience to say 'I get it','' she said.

"It does get better, your kids grow up and those feelings pass.

"I absolutely hated my children, I just wanted to give them back to my belly.

"But now they are 10 and six and I absolutely adore them.

"I get home and I am so excited to see my boys.

"But motherhood is hard and no one talks about that enough."

"We are here, we see you, we hear you and we want to support you."

Symptoms of perinatal anxiety and depression

Perinatal anxiety

Perinatal depression

Postnatal psychosis

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